
M 





+> 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



THE PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL 
FUND OF MINNESOTA. 



BY HON. SAMUEL G. IVERSON, 

State Auditor. 



An Address at the Monthly Council Meeting of the 

Minnesota Historical Society in the Hall of the 

House of Representatives, February 13, 1911. 



^SBM 




Published by the Society 



VOLKSZEITUNG PRINTING COMPANY, 

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA. 

FEBRUARY, 1911. 






i$? % h 




THE PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND 
OF MINNESOTA. 



BY HON. SAMUEL G. IVERSON, STATE AUDITOR. 



An Address at the Monthly Meeting of the Minnesota 

Historical Society, in the Hall of the House 

of Representatives, February 13, 1911. 



Mr. President and Members of the Historical Society : 

It is with a sincere appreciation of the honor conferred 
upon me that I accept the invitation of your officers to pre- 
sent a paper on the "Public Lands and School Fund of Minne- 
sota." It is eminently proper that a narrative of this nature 
should be found among your files, for this honorable society 
and its membership have been intimately associated with the 
established State School Land policies and the resulting school 
fund since 1849. 

It has been the settled policy of the United States since the 
Republic was formed, to assist new Territories and States by 
grants of land for common schools, a university, public build- 
ings, charitable institutions, and other purposes. The manner 
of handling or disposing of the lands was left with the people 
of the several states. The Federal Congress has up to the 
present time regarded the Public Domain as belonging to the 
people in general, and its laws have been framed so as to en- 
courage the settlement and development of the country. Pub- 
lic lands have never been regarded by the United States Gov- 
ernment as a source of revenue or profit. Most of the states 
admitted into the Union before Minnesota followed the gen- 
eral policy of the Federal Government to a large extent, and 
made liberal prices and terms on their school and other public 
lands, to encourage settlers and develop their states. Minne- 
sota early adopted a conservation policy, which should aid the 
state's development and also insure the enjoyment of our rich 



2 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

natural resources by the citizens of coming generations. It 
will be the aim of this paper to tell how the people of Minne- 
sota have handled the liberal gifts of land received from the 
United States Government. 

Our achievements in this regard are sources of wonder- 
ment among people in older states of the Union, and of emula- 
tion by the citizens of those states which have been admitted 
in recent years. The results have not been due to automatic 
operations, but to determined and intelligent work on the part 
of the splendid men and women of territorial days. Neigh- 
boring states, as well located geographically, of equally favor- 
able climatic conditions, received about the same, or even 
larger, grants of land from Congress; they also had vast 
tracts of rich agricultural lands, majestic forests of valuable 
timber and immense deposits of iron and other minerals. The 
Minnesota School Fund will, however, receive more money 
from one section of school land, the Hill Iron Mine, than the 
states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa combined have re- 
ceived, or will ever receive, from all the lands granted to them 
by Congress. It will be my endeavor to present as briefly as 
possible those facts in our history which have been largely 
instrumental in shaping the land laws, which have proven so 
beneficial to our citizens, and even to the people of other states. 
The discussion will contain no reference to Government and 
Indian lands, or to any part of the public domain, but be con- 
fined wholly to lands granted by Congress directly to the terri- 
tory or state for the welfare of the people. 

FOUNDATION OF THE SCHOOL FUND BY GOVERNOR RASMEY. 

On January 9, 1861, Governor Ramsey delivered a remark- 
able message to the Legislature. Among other public matters 
discussed, he therein stated that he believed in fifty years from 
that time the three million acres of school land, when sold, 
would yield an annual revenue which would raise our educa- 
tional system above the level of that of any other state in the 
Union. Of the remaining lands granted by Congress to the 
state government, including swamp lands, he stated they might 
realize seven million dollars, the income from which would 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OP MINNESOTA. 

endow the University and Normal Schools, pay off the public 
debt, and aid in establishing a system of broad, public chari- 
ties. The old saying, "Where there is a will there is a way," 
has been well illustrated in this connection. Under right guid- 
ance our early legislators were saved from the errors that be- 
fell neighboring states. They builded wiser than they knew. 
Our great War Governor spoke with almost prophetic fore- 
sight. His dream, if such it may be called, of a great school 
fund has become a reality. The half century period has just 
been passed and our school fund alone, in actual, interest- 
bearing securities, amounts to Twenty-one Million Five Hun- 
dred Thousand Dollars, and we still have more than a million 
acres of school land alone unsold. The lands in the other funds 
have produced more than Six Million Dollars, and there are 
now about two million acres unsold. 

The school fund is not, and perhaps never will be, large 
enough to wholly support our public schools, but it now is and 
will always be a great help to the tax-payer and a guaranty of 
free common schools. The lands of the other funds have been 
largely devoted to the purposes indicated in that message. 
Our people of today speak of our school fund with feelings of 
pride, and have good reason to believe that before another 
fifty-year period has passed our State Trust Funds will have 
reached the Two Hundred Million Dollar mark. These are 
marvellous figures. The business of caring for the sale or leas- 
ing of land is not an ordinary function of state government. 
During all these years the State has occupied the position of 
trustee or guardian. Therefore the story of our "State Lands 
and the School Fund of Minnesota" is of unusual interest, as 
it is intimately related to the entire romantic history of the 
State. It is interesting to recall some of the early incidents 
which led up to the adoption of sound policies for the care 
and control of these lands. 

The assets of a State or Nation may be placed in three 
divisions, the natural resources or endowment from an All-Wise 
Creator, its citizenship, and its government and laws. These 
are the essentials. There can be no organized, successful com- 
munity without harmonious union of these three indispensable 



4 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

factors in nation building. The intelligence, happiness, and 
prosperity of a people, to a large extent, may be measured by 
those standards. 

In natural resources Minnesota was highly favored. No 
like area on the North American continent was more lavishly 
endowed with fertile lands, forests, mines, lakes, rivers, and 
salubrious climate. Here was indeed a land flowing with milk 
and honey, where untold treasure merely awaited the oncom- 
ing pioneer. The fame of these glittering opportunities spread 
abroad and attracted many brave men and women who were 
willing to grapple with strenuous frontier life. Ohio, Pennsyl- 
vania, New York, and the New England states, contributed 
most of the earliest arrivals, and soon afterward came the 
sturdy immigrants from Canada and Europe. No Territory 
was more, fortunate in its pioneers. The organization of the 
Territorial and State governments brought the ablest men of 
the Territory together. A sound provisional government was 
launched, with wholesome and practical laws. The foundation 
or groundwork of any structure is exceedingly important, and 
none more so than one upon which is. to be erected a political 
structure dedicated to civilization and humanity's inherent 
rights. Here again was Minnesota highly favored. 

President Taylor sent a Governor to the Territory who was 
a diplomat, a master in statecraft and with wide experience 
in public affairs. Above all else he was honest, patriotic, and 
carried a level head on a pair of broad shoulders. Alexander 
Ramsey was a giant among big men who were his co-laborers. 
He was pre-eminently "the Man of the Hour." He wove into 
the basic political structure of Minnesota the same elements of 
strength that Washington and Lincoln gave to the Republic, — 
wisdom and true patriotism. Ramsey was in truth the founder 
of our great commonwealth and the father of the Minnesota 
School Fund. 

The act of Congress authorizing a Territorial Government 
for Minnesota was approved March 3, 1849. Among other 
things it provided that when the lands in the Territory should 
be surveyed, sections 16 and 36 in each township were reserved 
for the purpose of schools in the Territory or State which 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. 

would follow. Prior to that time Congress had only granted 
one section (16) in each township to a new territory or state. 
Minnesota, therefore, was the first to receive this double allow- 
ance for schools. In the same year a census was taken, which 
showed the total population to he 4,940. The value of all prop- 
erty, both real and personal, was assessed for taxation pur- 
poses, and amounted to $806,437.48. During the first year of 
the Territory's existence the total amount of warrants drawn 
on the Treasury was $1,030.50, truly a modest beginning. 

Governor Ramsey reached the Territory in May, 1849. The 
following September the first session of the Legislative As- 
sembly of the Territory was held in St. Paul. The joint session 
was held in the dining room of a hotel built of logs, situated 
on Third street. Among the sound words in his first message 
to the Legislative Assembly were : 

Nature has done much for us. Our productive soil and salubrious 
climate will bring thousands of immigrants within our borders; it is 
of the utmost moment that the foundations of our legislation should 

be healthful and solid Thus you will see, gentlemen, that yours 

is a most interesting and responsible position, and that in your hands, 
more than in that of any future Legislative Assembly, will be the 
"destinies of Minnesota." . . . No portion of the earth's surface, 
perhaps, combines so many favorable features for the settler as this 
Territory. 

In the introductory part of this memorable message the 
Governor displayed that breadth of vision which marks him 
as a constructive statesman. "With rare wisdom he compre- 
hended the seriousness and the importance of the work they 
were about to undertake as it might affect the welfare of the 
future commonwealth. I quote the following : 

To this distant land, so recently a wilderness, the Congress and 
Executive of the Nation have just given a name, an organized govern- 
ment, and boundaries of the most extended character. These have 
been given us, that we may in the future bear a distinctive part in that 
common destiny of progress by which the American name and Amer- 
ican institutions are, by superior intelligence, labor and energy, con- 
tinually borne peacefully onward, to occupy distant regions with civil- 
ization and cultivated happiness. 

That our part is sustained in a manner in consonance with the 
national character — that the footsteps of our infant commonwealth 



MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

are guided and the twig bent, while it is yet young, in the true direc- 
tion of political and moral greatness — depends, in a vast degree, upon 
the earlier legislation of the Territory. Whilst this legislation should 
be politically wise, it should likewise indicate, as it can measurably 
create, that high moral tone which will ever attract us tens of thou- 
sands of people who rightly deem a regard for an eternal future as 
a consideration not to be lost sight of in the selection of a location 
for the pursuit of temporal happiness or wealth. 

The establishment of a public school system, as well as the 
handling of the school lands, received careful thought and at- 
tention. Our pioneers believed in -the profound doctrine laid 
down in the great Ordinance of 1787, that "Religion, morality, 
and knowledge, being necessary to good government, schools 
and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. ' ' They 
proceeded slowly and- cautiously in the organization of the 
public school system. As early as February, 1851, the Terri- 
torial Legislature passed an act creating the University of 
Minnesota, and adopted a memorial to Congress asking for a 
grant of one hundred thousand acres as an endowment for its 
support. Congress the same year did make the grant of two 
townships, or about 44,000 acres, for that purpose. The lands 
were to be set apart by the Secretary of the Interior. 

DEBATES IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 

The members of the Constitutional Convention, which met 
in 1857, had an extensive debate on the manner of handling 
the school lands and school funds. It was proposed and 
strongly supported, that each county organization should have 
complete control over the school lands within its borders ; that 
the sale should be conducted by and through the county com- 
missioners ; and that the money collected should be received, 
cared for, invested, and apportioned, by the county authorities. 
It was urged that as the funds would some day be very large, 
it would be dangerous to trust so much wealth to the care and 
control of any single state officer, or of a central board, com- 
posed of several state officers. The questions were debated 
with fervency and zeal. The printed debates record that the 
experiences of the neighboring states were frequently referred 
to, and the members were warned to avoid those methods 
which had produced such unfortunate results. 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OP MINNESOTA. 7 

Thomas Wilson, of Winona, Thomas J. Galbraith, of Shak- 
opee, and others, spoke against the county plan, advocating one 
permanent central fund, the income from which should be di- 
vided equally among all the school children of the entire state, 
treating them all alike. It was pointed out that in certain 
counties where the school population might be numerous, and 
in need of large amounts to help support the schools, the in- 
come from the school fund would be small because of the small 
acreage and inferior quality of the land . On the other hand in 
certain counties of more extensive areas, but more sparsely set- 
tled and having fewer school children, the school fund might 
be greater, owing to the larger acreage of land, which might 
include tracts of valuable pine timber. Under the State Per- 
manent Fund proposition, all the school children of the state, 
in city, village or country, in densely or sparsely settled coun- 
ties, were placed on an absolute equality, and each should 
share alike in the division of the income from this fund. It 
was also maintained that this was in harmony with the terms 
of the Act of Congress making the grant, as it was a grant to 
the State of Minnesota for the use of schools, and not a grant 
to the county. 

It was finally decided that the school lands should be sold 
at public sale, the principal to be forever preserved inviolate 
and undiminished as a perpetual school fund of the state, and 
that the income arising from such fund should be distributed 
to the townships in proportion to the number of scholars be- 
tween the ages of five and twenty-one years. The Legislature 
was given authority over the investment of the funds. The 
debate showed a wide range of opinion among the members, 
but the sentiment seemed to crystallize, as the several argu- 
ments were made, in favor of one central fund. When it came 
to a vote there were only five votes in favor of the county plan 
and thirty-nine in favor of the state-wide consolidated plan. 

GRANTS OF LAND BY CONGRESS. 

Up to the time of the actual establishment of the state gov- 
ernment, several grants of land had been made by Congress 
for the various uses of the state. 



8 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

Under Sections 8 and 9 of Chapter 16 of an Act of Congress 
approved September 4, 1841, a grant of five hundred thousand 
acres of land was made to the several states then in existence, 
and further grants of a like acreage to each new state there- 
after admitted into the Union. The act further provided that 
the land so granted should not he disposed of at a price less 
than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and that the net 
proceeds from the sale of said land should be faithfuly applied 
to internal improvements, namely, "roads, railways, bridges, 
canals and improved water courses and draining of swamps, 
and such roads, railways, canals, bridges, and water courses, 
when drained, or improved, to be free for the transportation 
of United States mail, munitions of war, passage of troops, 
without payment of any toll whatever." The Act of Congress 
authorizing a State government, approved February 26, 1857, 
carried with it several specific grants to the State : first, sec- 
tions 16 and 36, or 1,280 acres, in each township for the use 
of schools; second, seventy-two sections for a University, to be 
selected by the Governor (additional to the grant made in 
1851) ; third, ten sections, or 6,400 acres, to be selected by the 
Governor, for public buildings; fourth, all salt springs within 
the state, not exceeding twelve in number, with six sections 
of land adjoining, or contiguous as may be, to be selected by 
the Governor, to be used or disposed of as the Legislature shall 
direct. On March 12, 1860, Congress passed an Act granting 
to Minnesota all the sicamp and overflowed lands within our 
borders, which had not been previously reserved or conveyed. 

LAWS OF MINNESOTA RELATING TO THE SCHOOL FUND. 

In his second message to the State Legislature, delivered 
in January, 1861, Governor Ramsey minutely discussed the 
need of a careful management of our school lands, and again 
reminded the Legislature of its responsibilities to future gen- 
erations. He said : 

Of this magnificent grant, the great gift of the nation to all the mil- 
lions who are to inhabit the soil of Minnesota, you are stewards in 
their behalf, and it devolves upon you to see that the sacred trusts 
involved are faithfully executed 

The precedent which you shall establish will go far to shape the 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. 9 

future policy or the State in this regard, and therefore upon you will 
depend, in a great measure, whether these vast estates, consecrated to 
the noblest aspirations of a free people, — to Education, which is the 
root of liberty, and to Charity, which is its fruit, — shall be husbanded 
with a wise and statesmanlike economy, or squandered with a blind 
improvidence, — whether the institutions to be built upon these ample 
foundations shall be forecast to the broad measure of our destiny, or 
stunted in their germ by a selfish eagerness for premature results. . . . 
Looking, then, at the ultimate fund to be derived from the school 
lands as a permanent resource of education for all time to come, it is 
for you to decide what this magnificent endowment is to be worth as 
an instrument of social development to the unborn millions of the 
future. The estimate now placed upon it will be the witness to pos- 
terity of the loftiness or the meanness of the views which actuate us. 
This estimate will be expressed first of all in the niinimum price 
which you shall affix to the lands. The question of a minimum, you 
will perceive, is in fact the cardinal point to be established. 

Here, again were the business sagacity and foresight of 
Governor Eanisey visible. The United States government, un- 
der its cash entry and pre-emption laws, was selling the public- 
domain at a fixed price of $1.25 per acre. To a large extent 
that established the price for all lands. It was urged by many 
that if the State should offer its lands at the government price 
it would encourage settlement. On the other hand, it was 
claimed that the State should adopt a much higher price, say 
ten or twelve dollars per acre, in the interest of a larger school 
fund. The Governor advocated a middle ground, stating that 
to fix a very high price would retard settlement and place the 
state in the position of the speculator, as it could hold its lands 
for an indefinite term without paying taxes, relying upon fu- 
ture settlements and population to bring a higher price: and 
that if the state should sell at the low price, the same as was 
done in neighboring states, the lands would soon all be gone 
and a comparatively small fund would be realized. The out- 
come of the discussion was fortunate, a conservative policy was 
established. 

The first result was that the Legislature of 1S61 (Chapter 
14. G. L. 1S61 created a Board, consisting of the Governor. 
Attorney General, and Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
to have the general care and supervision of all state lands. 



10 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

The State Auditor was named "Register," and the State Treas- 
urer was designated "Receiver," of said Board. The minimum 
price was the amount fixed by the regular board of appraisers, 
which in no case should be less than $7.00 per acre, and 25 per 
cent of the purchase price was to be paid on the. day of the 
public sale, the remainder to run twenty years at six per cent. 
On the lands that were chiefly valuable for timber, 75 per cent 
of the purchase price was to be paid in cash, or secured in a 
satisfactory manner. The same Act provided that the funds 
arising from such sales should, from time to time be invested in 
United States bonds or bonds of the State of Minnesota. 

In 1862 (Chapter 52, G. L. 1862) this law was changed, 
making the State Auditor ex-officio Commissioner of the Land 
Office, and fixing the minimum price at $5 per acre, and pro- 
viding that 15 per cent of the purchase price should be paid 
at the time of the sale on agricultural lands, and on timber 
lands 75 per cent, and the remainder to run twenty years at 
the rate of seven per cent, payable in advance. 

In 1863 (Chapter 12, G. L. 1863) the Legislature again 
changed the law, particularly as to timber lands, authorizing 
the Commissioner of the State Land Office to sell pine timber 
at public sale by the thousand feet, after the same had been 
duly appraised, payment to be made upon a survey or scale of 
the amount of timber cut by the Surveyor General of Logs and 
Lumber, in the district where the timber was situated. Land 
classified as "Pine Land" was not to be offered for sale until 
the timber had been sold. With the exception of a reduction 
in the rate of interest from seven to five per cent, and later to 
four per cent, and the extension of time of payments on the 
remainder to forty years, and increasing the kinds of securities 
in which school funds may be invested, the law of 1863 is sub- 
stantially the same as the one under which we are operating 
at the present time. 

In 1885 the Legislature (Chapter 269, G. L. 1885) expressly 
provided that no timber on state lands should be sold under 
any conditions, unless such sale was necessary to protect the 
state from loss. Such liability of loss or damage could be by 
fire, windfalls, or from any other cause, which, in the opinion 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. 11 

of the Governor, State Treasurer, and Commissioner of the 
State Land Office, would be deemed sufficient. This provision 
has continued. During these years the State has only sold its 
pine timber when the land examiners reported that it was in 
danger of waste or destruction. 

Another very important law was passed by the Legislature 
of 1901 (Chapter 104, G. L. 1901), reserving to the State all 
minerals on lands owned or that might thereafter accrue to the 
State. 

IRON ORE LANDS. 

During many years there had been explorations for min- 
erals in the northeastern part of Minnesota, particularly for 
the precious metals, gold and silver, and several mining camps 
flourished. During the early seventies iron ore was found in 
the vicinity of Vermillion lake, and in 1875 a grant of swamp 
land was made to a railroad company to aid in developing the 
iron mines. This became the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad 
Company, which has been a prominent factor in the develop- 
ment of the iron ore industry in Minnesota. In the eighties 
there were rumors of iron ore discoveries southwest of Vermil- 
lion lake, on what has since been known as the Mesaba Range. 
Up to that time there had been no thought of withholding the 
state lands from sale on account of the iron ore or other min- 
erals. After the timber had been regularly sold, the lands 
were then subject to sale for agricultural purposes at the min- 
imum price of $5.00 per acre. The timber on a great many 
of the lands in that region had been sold and the land was sub- 
ject to sale, and no doubt many were anxious to purchase them. 
This is apparent from a report made by Capt. "William "W. 
Braden, who was State Auditor from 1882 to 1891. In this re- 
port to the State Legislature, covering the two years ending 
•July 31, 1888, Auditor Braden stated under the head of "Min- 
eral lands : ' ' 

I have refused to sell lands in the "Iron Range" of St. Louis, Lake and 
Cook Counties, believing that the law authorizing sales, especially in 
the above named counties, should first be amended so as to reserve 
to the state all the mineral rights. Without doubt, valuable deposits 
of iron ore will be found on state lands. Such lands should not, in 



12 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

my judgment, be sold by the acre. Suitable laws should be passed 
allowing them to be leased for a long term of years, the lessee paying 

to the State a stated price per ton for tbe ore mined, as a royalty. 

i 

Had Auditor Braden yielded to the pressure of those who 
wanted him to sell the lands outright, which he could have 
lawfully done, we would not today be talking of a two hundred 
million dollar school fund. Through his refusal to sell, the 
State retained the fee title in those valuable tracts of cut-over 
lands, which have since shown up countless millions of tons of 
iron ore. Mr. Braden arbitrarily, and without express author- 
ity of law, reserved the mineral on certain state lands which 
he sold in the vicinity of Grand Rapids in 1890. That was in 
a country far removed from any known iron discoveries. Since 
that time iron has been discovered even to the westward of 
Grand Rapids. In the Legislature of 1889 a bill drawn by Mr. 
Braden was enacted into a law, permitting the leasing of state 
lands for iron mining purposes. 

At this point your attention is called to the law passed by 
the Legislature of 1863, directing that the state lands should 
be classified, and that those known as "pine timber lands" 
should not be sold outright until the pine had been sold at pub- 
lic sale and the timber accounted for according to a surveyor 
general's scale. That Act reserved the fee in the State, until 
such time as the land should be wanted for agricultural pur- 
poses. Thus it happened that when iron was discovered the 
State found itself the owner in fee of about 40,000 acres of 
lands situated squarely on the narrow belt of land extending 
from Mesaba station on the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad 
southwest to Grand Rapids. If the State had offered its lands 
with standing timber for sale, the chances are that nearly all 
would have been sold, perhaps for a high price per acre, in 
which event the iron deposits would of course have fallen to the 
several buyers. The most valuable iron mines on the range 
were obtained from the government, under the Federal land 
laws, without any regard to the fabulous wealth that lay 
beneath the surface. The classification of the lands in the 
early days was for the purpose of insuring to the State a fair 
return for the value of the timber, because it was reasoned out 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. 13 

that land carrying timber varied greatly in value, according to 
the quality and quantity. 

There is a suggestion of luck in the finding of these large 
iron mines on state lands. The State's good fortune has come 
as a blessing to us and to millions of Minnesota's future citi- 
zens, because at critical times in the affairs of the State her 
servants acted with wisdom and devotion to the public welfare. 
The range of iron ore bearing lands has been extended into 
other counties, far removed from the original discoveries, and 
large deposits have been found. There appears no limit to the 
future possibilities. The law of 1901, reserving all mineral 
on state lands for the exclusive use and benefit of the school 
and other trust funds to which the lands belong, insures large 
returns from future discoveries. 

INVESTMENT OF MONEY RECETVED. 

Under the constitution adopted in 1857, the Legislature was 
given full authority to prescribe the method of handling the 
funds and to specify the kinds of securities. It has always 
been a matter of great concern to find safe investments for the 
moneys received from the sale of lauds, timber, and minerals. 
Permanency and security for the funds, rather than high rates 
of interest, have been the things sought for. The first law on 
the subject limited the investments to bonds of the United 
States and of the State of Mnnesota. A few years later a 
Board of Investment was created consisting of the Governor, 
State Treasurer, State Auditor, President of the. Board of 
Regents of the State University, and the Chief Justice of the 
Supreme court; and the bonds of several other states of the 
Union were added to the list of permissible investments. Some- 
time thereafter the bonds of all the states of the Union were 
recognized. 

In 1886 an amendment to the constitution was adopted by 
the people, authorizing the investment of these funds in school 
district bonds within the State at five per cent interest, limiting 
the amount that could be loaned to three per cent of the as- 
sessed value of the real property, and creating a smaller Board 
of Investment to conduct this business, consisting of the Gov- 



14 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

ernor, State Treasurer, and State Auditor. This last method 
has been amended from time to time, until now the loans can be 
made to all the municipalities of the State, such as counties, 
townships, cities, villages, school districts, and county ditch 
bonds, all at a uniform rate of four per cent interest; and 
the maximum amount that can be loaned has been increased 
to 15 per cent of the assessed real property valuation. 

Under this system the State Auditor" makes a levy upon 
all the taxable property within the municipal corporation for 
both principal and interest as the bonds become due, and 
the amount is paid to the County Treasurer by the property 
owners with their general taxes. At the proper time the State 
Auditor makes a draft on the county treasurers for the princi- 
pal and interest due, which is paid into the State Treasury in 
the same manner as all other demands of the State. It is a 
gratifying fact, and a tribute to the business judgment of both 
the Legislators and the Board of Investment, to be able to state 
that from the beginning of the State government to the present 
time not one dollar has ever been lost on the investments of 
moneys belonging to the school and other trust funds. The 
income derived from the investments in the permanent school 
fund alone, has increased from $70,016.45 in 1864 to $807,164.11 
in 1910. 

The distribution is made in March and October yearly on 
the order of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
This now produces about two dollars a year for each pupil in 
our public schools. The total income since the organization of 
the State, which has been apportioned twice a year for the ben- 
efit of the public schools, reaches the enormous sum of $18,020,- 
173.47. In other words, that is the amount actually received 
as the income from our permanent school fund; and we have 
the principal intact, amounting to twenty-one and a half mil- 
lion dollars, and now increasing at the rate of more than a 
million dollars a year. 

STATISTICS OF LAND GRANTS, SALES, AND RESULTING FUND. 

A historical review of this kind would be incomplete with- 
out showing in detail the total acreages actually acquired by 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. 15 

the State under the various congressional grants, the amounts 
conveyed by sale or otherwise, the proceeds resulting from 
sales of land, timber, or minerals, and the securities in which 
the trust funds are invested. The acreage granted and ap- 
proved to the State up to the present time under the several 
acts of Congress are : 

School lands 2,955,902.80 acres. 

Internal Improvement lands 499,286.50 

Public Building lands 6,395.12 

Agricultural College lands 94,439.28 

State University lands 91,524.99 

Salt Spring lands 44,917.69 

Swamp lands 4,461,157.14 



Total 8,153,623.52 acres. 

By an Act of the State Legislature (Chapter 133, G. L. 
1873), the Salt Spring lands were transferred to the custody 
and control of the Board of Regents of the State University of 
Minnesota, to be sold in such manner or in such amounts as 
they may see fit, devoting the proceeds for a geological and 
natural history survey of the State. The law provided that the 
Board of Regents shall make a full statement of the sales of 
the Salt Spring lands, together with the moneys received, when 
the geological and natural history survey of the State shall 
have been completed. In recent years the amounts collected 
from the sale of the lands and interest on land contracts have 
been regularly paid into the State Treasury and paid out again 
on the requisition of the Board of Regents for the natural his- 
tory and geological surveys. No permanent fund was ever 
created from the Salt Spring lands. The total amount ob- 
tained to date and expended on the geological and natural his- 
tory survey is about $315,000, which presumably is about the 
sum realized from the sale of the lands, both principal and in- 
terest. With the exception of the Salt Spring lands and a por- 
tion of the first grant to the State University, all the lands 
granted by Congress to the State of Minnesota have been han- 
dled and managed by the State Auditor's Department. 

The following is the acreage of the lands granted or con- 



16 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

veyed by acts of the State Legislature or sold under the State 
land laws : 

School lands ' 2,015,332.26 acres. 

Internal Improvement lands 491,528.79 

Public Building lands 6,395.12 

Agricultural College lands 94,439.28 

University lands 69,354.04 

Salt Spring lands 44,917.69 

Swamp lands 2,945,251.00 



Total 5,667,218.18 acres. 

The acreages of unsold and unconveyed lands at this time, 
which have been patented to the State, are : 

School lands 940,570.54 acres. 

University lands 22,170.95 " 

Internal Improvement lands 7,757.71 

Swamp lands 1,515,906.14 



Total 2,486,405.34 acres. 

The following statements show the total accumulations from 
all sources, credited to the several funds, and the securities 
owned by the respective funds, up to and including August 1, 
1910. The receipts from the Agricultural College lands are 
included in the University Fund. 

Permanent School Fund. 

Accumulations. 

Sales of lands $12,725,306.42 

Amounts paid on forfeitures, right of way, etc 193,120.65 

Sales of timber 6,053,690.73 

Mineral permits and leases 277,050.77 

Royalty on iron ore 1,391,832.86 

Profits on sales of bonds 361,569.94 



Total $21,002,571.37 

Investments. 

Cash in State Treasury $100,462.81 

Unpaid principal on land contracts 5,953,905.95 

Bonds as follows: 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. IT 

Alabama ($143,000) 5 per cent 140,755.00 

Delaware, at 3 per cent 4,000.00 

Louisiana, at 4 per cent 150,000.00 

Massachusetts, at 3 per cent 2,595,000.00 

Massachusetts, 3% per cent 300,000.00 

Minnesota Capitol certificates, 3 and 3% per cent. . . . 1,900,000.00 
Minnesota cities, counties, townships, and school 

districts 8,037,017.61 

Tennessee, 4% per cent 270,000.00 

Utah, 3% per cent 100,000.00 

Virginia ($1,635,000), 3 per cent 1,451,430.00 

Total $21,002,571.37 

Permanent University Fund. 
Accumulation*. 

Sales of lands $831,341.57 

Amount paid on forfeitures, right of way, etc 15,540.81 

Sales of timber 500,441.21 

Mineral permits and leases 70,803.00 

Royalty on iron ore 22,329.65 

Transfer from State Institutions Fund 7,292.73 

Transfer from Internal Improvement Land Fund 150.00 

Profits on sales of bonds 900.00 



Total $1,448,798.97 

Investments. 

Cash in State Treasury $17,924.98 

Unpaid principal on land contracts 283,384.94 

Bonds as follows: 

Delaware, 3 per cent 131,000.00 

Minnesota cities, vilages, etc., 4 per cent 539,244.00 

Massachusetts", 3 per cent 130,000.00 

Tennesee, ±y 2 per cent 80,000.00 

Virginia ($355,000), 3 per cent 267,245.05 

Total $l,448,798.a7 

Internal Improvement Dual Fund. 
Accumulations. 

Sales of lands $2,808,549.38 

Amount paid on forfeitures, right of way, etc 21,008.05 

Sales of timber 114,190.44 

Mineral permits and leases 850.00 

Total $2,944,597.87 



18 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

Investments. 

Cash in State Treasury $8,573.77 

Unpaid principal on land contracts 277,930.35 

Louisiana bonds, 4 per cent 23,000.00 

Virginia bonds ($55,000), 3 per cent 52,093.75 

Railroad adjustment bonds, destroyed 2,533,000.00 

Prison Building certificates of indebtedness, 4 per cent. . . " 50,000.00 

Total $2,944,597.87 

Deducting $2,533,000, Railroad Bonds, leaves $411,597.87 actually in 
the fund. 

Sin imp Lund Fund. 

Accumulations. 

Sales of lands $971,428.51 

Amount paid on forfeitures, right of way 9,265.69 

Sales of timber 460,672.17 

Mineral permits and leases 65,137.00 

Royalty on iron ore 74,751.83 

Total $1,581,255.20 

Investments. 

Cash in State Treasury $9,087.62 

Unpaid principal on land contracts 770,493.58 

Louisiana bonds, 4 per cent (transferred from State In- 

titutions Fund) 38,000.00 

Minnesota Capitol certificates, 3 per cent 200,000.00 

Minnesota school districts, cities, counties, etc 466,694.00 

Virginia bonds ($100,000), 3 per cent 96,980.00 

Total $1,581,255.20 

Total Amount received for all the Funds. 

Permanent School Fund $21,002,571.37 

Permanent University Fund 1,448,798.97 

Internal Improvement Land Fund 2,944,597.87 

Swamp Land Fund 1,581,255.20 

Total $26,977,223.41 

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT LANDS. 

The 500,000 acres of Internal Improvements Lands, granted 
in 1841, have had a somewhat meteoric career. They lay 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. 



19 



dormant until 1872, when by constitutional enactment a per- 
manent fund Avas created. In 1881 the Legislature (Chapter 
104, G. L. 1881) passed an Act to apply the moneys of this fund 
to the payment of the railroad adjustment bonds of 1881. These 
bonds were issued as a compromise in the settlement between 
the State and the holders of the old State Railroad Bonds of 
1858. By a substantial vote the people appropriated these fine 
farming lands toward the extinguishment of the folly of the 
Legislature of 1858. 

In 1891, when the bonds of 1881 were subject to call, a re- 
funding act was passed (Chapter 31, G. L. 1891) to refund at 
a lower rate an amount of bonds which, with the proceeds of 
the Internal Improvement Fund, would provide for the entire 
bond issue of 1881. The amount of the fund thus used for the 
purchase of the bonds of 1881 was $2,533,000, which were duly 
destroyed. The last of the issue of 1891 which refunded the 
remainder, was paid by the State in July of 1910. Thus, after 
a lapse of 52 years and the payment of millions of money, did 
the people maintain the honor and credit of the State. 

In 1896 the people voted to devote the remainder of these 
lands for the purpose originally intended, namely, for good 
roads, bridges, and highways in general. The fund now holds 
over $-100,000 in securities, and the remaining lands should 
bring this up to a half million, which will no doubt forever 
remain as an endowment for better roads and bridges in the 
State. 

PUBLIC BUILDING LANDS. 

The ten sections of lands given to the State in the Enabling 
Act for Public Buildings were selected in the County of Kan- 
diyohi, and they remained undisturbed until the Legislature 
of 1901 (Chapter 177, G. L. 1901) passed an act directing the 
State Auditor to sell the lands and to credit the proceeds to 
the Revenue Fund for the purpose of completing the State Cap- 
itol Building. The total amount realized from the 6,395 acres 
was $125,482.00. The sales were made under the same condi- 
tions as other state lands. 



20 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE LANDS. 

Ill 'an Act approved July 2, 1862, Congress made a grant of 
lands amounting to 30,000 acres for each senator and repre- 
sentative in Congress, under the apportionment of 1860, as an 
endowment for the support of a college where the leading ob- 
ject shall be "to teach such branches of learning as are related 
to agriculture and mechanic arts." Under that grant the State 
was entitled to 120,000 acres. The act provided that if double 
minimum lands were selected, that is, lands within the limits of 
a railroad grant, then the State should be charged double for 
each acre so selected (page 243, Vol. 5, U. S. Land Decisions). 
The State Auditor in 1867 selected 25,511 acres of such lands 
which counted double on the grant. Therefore the State 
actually received on this grant 94,439.28 acres only, but it was 
a complete satisfaction of the terms of the granting act. These 
selections were very choice agricultural lands and were all 
sold many years ago. 

The Legislature of 1865 (Chapter 7, G. L. 1865) passed an 
Act to establish an Agricultural College and Experimental 
Farm. It was located on Section 16, Township 115, Range 28, 
which is near Glencoe in McLeod county. The act created a 
board to be known as "The Agricultural College Board," to 
consist of the Governor, Secretary of State, and President of 
the State Agricultural Society, as ex-officio members, and four 
members to be elected by the Legislature. The Board was 
given full care and management of the College and farm and 
the disposition of the lands and funds donated. All the swamp 
lands in McLeod county were donated to that college, and the 
interest from the proceeds from sales of the lands granted by 
Congress was applied and appropriated annually to the main- 
tenance of the Agricultural College. By Chapter 9, G. L. 1865, 
the Legislature in effect amended the former act by providing 
that the lands granted by Congress should be appraised and 
sold and the moneys handled in the same manner as school 
lands, that is, creating a Permanent Fund as an endowment 
for the Agricultural College. The act further provided that if 
any. part of the moneys invested should be lost, through any 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. 21 

cause, the loss should be replaced by the State, so that the fund 
should forever remain undiminished. 

In Chapter 1, G-. L. 1868, the Legislature passed a law to 
reorganize the University of Minnesota, and to establish an 
Agricultural College therein. This repealed the Act establish- 
ing the Agricultural College in McLeod county ; and by Chap- 
ter 55, G. L. 1868, the lands granted by Congress as an endow- 
ment for a College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts were to 
be sold in the same manner as school and other state lands, and 
the proceeds to be credited to the Permanent University Fund, 
the same as other lands granted by Congress for University 
purposes. Therefore the proceeds from the sales of the Agri- 
cultural College lands and the University lands became merged 
in the Permanent University Fund, and the income from the 
investments was appropriated for the support of the State Uni- 
versity. 

SWAMP LANDS. 

By an Act approved September 28, 1850, Congress granted 
to the State of Arakansas all the swamp and overflowed lands 
unfit for cultivation, to enable that state to construct the nec- 
essary levees and drains to reclaim them. In an Act approved 
March 12, 1860, Congress extended the provisions of that act 
to Minnesota and Oregon. The manner of selecting these lands 
was largely left discretionary with the Secretary of the In- 
terior. 

After some correspondence between the Governor and the 
Interior Department two propositions were submitted to the 
State, first, whether the State would be willing to abide by 
the field notes of the surveys as designating the lands, or, sec- 
ond, whether in the absence of their non-acceptance of these 
notes as a basis, the State would furnish evidence of the char- 
acter of the lands from an actual survey in the field. The first 
plan suggested would cause no expense whatever to the State. 
As a consequence the Legislature in 1862 (Section 48, Chap- 
ter 62, G. L. 1862) passed a law to the effect "that the sur- 
veys on file in the Surveyor General's office are hereby adopted 
as the basis upon which will be accepted the swamp lands 



22 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

granted to the State by the Act of Congress of March 12, 
1860." That was the rule by which swamp lands were selected 
for the State until 1886, when the Department of the Interior 
made the field notes of survey simply prima facie evidence of 
the character of the lands, subjecting them to contest and com- 
pelling the State to defend its title by competent proof. This 
rule prevailed until 1903, when the Interior Department, in a 
large measure, reinstated the rule of accepting field notes of 
the surveys, and with slight modifications that method con- 
trols the selecting at the present time. 

The actual character of the swamp lands- at the time of 
making the grant was largely unknown, beyond the fact that 
they were generally low and flat, open meadows or bogs, and 
some covered with timber, as is usually found on such lands. 
The question of their disposition received considerable thought 
and attention. By some it was contended that the proceeds 
from sales should be devoted to the purpose of draining and 
improving them, as the terms of the granting act implied. 
On the other hand it was urged that Congress had specified 
no method by which this should be done ; and in other states, 
which had received similar grants and had devoted all or a 
part to the reclamation of the land, the results had not proven 
satisfactory. The lands were considered of little value, which 
was shown by the very liberal grants made by the early legis- 
lators in aid of railroad construction. 

It is exceedingly fortunate that the lands were not all given 
away, because on three contiguous forty acre swamp tracts, 
which the State has received, the trust funds will be enriched 
by nearly ten million dollars from the iron ore contained 
therein. This is the well known Scranton mine near Hibbing. 
Instead of creating a fund from the sale of these lands and 
using the proceeds for the reclamation of them, our early leg- 
islators apparently preferred to give them to railroads or other 
corporations, so that they would in that way come into the 
possession of private parties who would have an interest in 
draining or making them fit for use and occupancy. 

In 1881 the people adopted an amendment to the State 
Constitution (Section 2, Article 8), providing that all the 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. 23 

swamp lands owned by the State, or that would thereafter 
accrue to the State, should be in all respects treated and sold 
in the same manner as school lands, and that the principal 
derived from such sales should become a permanent fund, one- 
half of the proceeds therefrom to be apportioned to the com- 
mon school fund of the State, and the remaining half to the 
educational institutions in the relative ratio of the cost of the 
support of said institutions. That amendment was in effect a 
repeal of a grant of 525,000 acres made by the Legislature in 
1865 to several State institutions. In 1907 (Chapter 385, G-. L. 
1907) the Legislature made the provisions of the constitution 
effective by directing the disposition of the funds as was 
therein specified. 

No doubt the intention of the framers of that amendment 
to the constitution was to forever prohibit further grants of 
lands to railroads or other corporations, and saving the re- 
mainder to our school fund and to aid in maintaining our 
other institutions. As a result of that very wise provision, we 
have saved approximately two million acres of the swamp land 
grant, many of them exceedingly valuable. The total acre- 
age of swamp lands that have been patented to the State up 
to the first of August, 1910, was 1,161,157.11 acres. From 
these lands 2,885,635.63 acres have been conveyed by the 
State to railroads and other corporations under acts of the 
Legislature, and 150,951.79 acres have been sold under state 
laws, leaving at this time 1,421,566.72 acres unsold. All the 
railroad grants have now been filled, excepting that of the 
Duluth and Iron Eange railroad, which is still entitled to 
6,505 acres. An additional 600,000 acres of swamp lands are 
now in process of being selected and approved, for which the 
state will at no distant day receive patents. 

The following statement shows in detail the dates of the 
legislative granting acts and the names of the companies and 
the number of acres of swamp land received by each. It is 
good evidence of the desire of the people to encourage rail- 
road and other transportation facilities fifty years ago. 



24 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

Swamp Land Grants to Companies by Acts of the Legislature. 

D;ite of Act. Grantee. No. of Acres 

March 8, 1861, Lake Superior and Mississippi (now 

St. Paul and Duluth) R. R. Co 694,399.17 

March 8, 1861, Taylors Falls and Lake Superior 

(now St. Paul and Duluth) R. R. Co. 91,829.96 

March 12, 1861, County Commissioners of McLeod 
county, as Trustees of Stevens 
Seminary 4,684.17 

March 7, 1862, Madelia and Sioux Falls Wagon 

Road 4,683.71 

March 5, 1863, St. Paul and Chicago (now Chicago, 

Milwaukee & St. Paul) R. R. Co. 462,336.00 

February 11, 1865, Minneapolis and St. Cloud (now 

Great Northern) R. R. Co 425,664.00 

February 16, 1865, Southern Minnesota Railroad Co.... 36,777.84 

March 2, 1865, Minnesota Central (now Wisconsin, 

Minnesota & Pacific) R. R. Co... 275,000.00 

March 2, 1865, Cannon River Manufacturing Asso- 
ciation 24,190.45 

March 9, 1875, Duluth and Iron Range R. R. Co.... 600,214.33 

March 3, 1881, Little Falls and Dakota R. R. Co... 265,856.00 



Total 2,885,635.63 

FUTURE RECEIPTS. 

Of the $27,000,000 received and credited to all the funds, 
$7,128,994.55 represents sales of timber, and $1,902,755.11 from 
iron-hearing lands. There are about three million acres un- 
sold. Much of this land carries pine or other timber of com- 
mercial value. It is safe to estimate that $7,000,000 more will 
be realized from future timber sales. Of iron-bearing lands 
the State is the largest single fee owner. We do not own the 
largest mines, but we do actually own more in the aggregate 
than any individual or private corporation. 

The acreage held under the State Mineral Law at this 
time is: 

School lands 20,368.80 

University lands 3,931.28 

Swamp lands 5,017.82 

Total acres 29,317,90 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. ZO 

Under these contracts the lessees agree to pay all general 
taxes on the land, and a royalty of 25 cents a ton. The min- 
imum output is 5.000 tons a year after a railroad reaches 
within one mile of the land. Before that time an annual fee 
of one hundred dollars is paid. In 1910, for taxation pur- 
poses, the State Tax Commission assessed certain state lands 
as active mines and fixed the tonnage as follows : 

2,330 acres School land 105,294.969 

440 acres Swamp land 31,059,977 

520 acres University land 8,844,871 

Total tons 145,199,817 

The money valuation placed on this tonnage for taxation 
is $17,035,312.00. That represents a little more than one-tenth 
of the acreage now under contracts with the State. These 
lands show up an average of about 1,750,000 tons per forty. 
This is probably somewhat higher than the entire acreage will 
produce, but it is not unreasonable to estimate an average of 
one million tons per forty for all the lands under lease. This 
will produce 750,000,000 tons of iron, which at 25 cents per 
ton will make the splendid sum of $187,500,000. This added 
to our present funds and other receipts will bring the total to 
something more than $200,000,000. 

These are very large, almost startling figures, but from 
information even now obtainable, it is reasonable to believe 
that this enormous sum will be realized from those lands now 
under contract within the coming forty-five years. As an addi- 
tional source of future income, we have the very large acreage 
of state lands scattered over northern Minnesota, in many of 
which iron ore has been developed in paying quantities. An- 
other fact to be considered in this connection is that the min- 
eral law of 1889 was repealed in 1907. and it is expected that 
when a new law is enacted it will provide for a higher roy- 
alty per ton and a much larger minimum output. This will 
in no small degree enhance the future prospects from the iron 
on state school lands. 

The lands too wet for cultivation are being drained. The 
Legislature has appropriated $100,000 a year for several years 



26 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

for that purpose. It is therefore fair to assume that the re- 
maining three million acres, when sold for agricultural par- 
poses, will yield the minimum price of $5.00 per acre, or $15,- 
000,000. 

The State Government has never undertaken the actual 
development of school and other state lands. No attempt has 
ever been made to clear or fit agricultural lands for farming 
purposes, to cut the timber and sell the logs or other forest 
products ; neither has the State ever attempted to explore or 
develop those lands which are situated in the iron district. 
Exploring and developing iron is very expensive and some- 
what uncertain, and the State has contented itself with 
merely being a lessor, giving options or contracts to those who 
were willing to spend their money in explorations. Parties 
dealing with the State in this matter were protected in their 
expenditures, because, under the law, if ore was found they 
could obtain a binding contract good for fifty years. 

SUGGESTED CHANGES IN THE STATE LAND LAWS. 

The policy adopted by our pioneers for the care and sale 
of our school and other state lands, and the laws regulating 
the same, have received a great deal of comment in news- 
papers and otherwise in the last few years, and in many in- 
stances both policy and laws have been criticised. The main 
reason for such contention is that the laws are regarded as not 
elastic enough to permit easy acquirement of both timber and 
land by those who intend to settle upon and cultivate the land. 

While it must be admitted that our laws are far from per- 
fect, the size of the existing funds should not be forgotten. 
The results have been most favorably commented upon by 
magazine and newspaper writers throughout the country. 
The State's good fortune is due to the fact that nearly fifty 
years ago our legislators and executive officers acted with 
almost prophetic wisdom. The achievements under these land- 
marks of the State, even though they now appear ultra-con- 
servative, should cause them to be gratefully remembered. 

Time, however, has brought about many changes in condi- 
tions. In justice both to the interests of the State at large 



PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OP MINNESOTA. 27 

and to the citizens who live in the counties where state lands 
are largely located, certain modifications of our laws should 
be made. 

Roads should be built under the supervision of the State 
Highway Commission, the cost thereof to be assessed against 
all the adjoining land that may be benefited. In that way 
school and other state lands can be made to contribute directly 
to the building of roads, and the Legislature may provide for 
the same by an adequate appropriation. The reclamation of 
the wet lands by drainage should continue ; a complete and 
comprehensive fire protection organization should be installed, 
covering the entire district from Cook county nearly to the 
Red river of the North ; common schools should be assisted in 
frontier communities not able to support them. The Legisla- 
ture could make an appropriation which may be distributed 
by the local and state authorities, within reasonable safe- 
guards. Land not suited for agriculture should be kept for 
forestry purposes, thus insuring a continuous timber supply. 

The building of roads, drainage, forest fire protection, and 
schools, are undertakings of such a magnitude that private 
enterprises should not be called upon to undertake them. The 
enactment of laws along the lines suggested above may not 
entirely satisfy all critics, but I believe they will be valuable 
aids to the sale of lands, and to the settlement and develop- 
ment of those districts where the State Trust Fund lands are 
largely located. 

SUMMARY OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM OF MINNESOTA. 

It has been the purpose of this paper to present a fairly 
accurate historical review of the various land grants made by 
Congress to the State, and the disposition of the proceeds from 
such lands. Some space has been profitably devoted to public 
events in the early history of the Territory and State, which 
have had a marked bearing upon the laws by which these mag- 
nificent inheritances have been conserved. We have seen the 
funds grow year by year, and the moneys securely invested, 
and we now talk of hundreds of millions in the future. 

Our schools of learning command the admiration of the 



28 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

country. Our great State University, with five thousand stu- 
dents, we confidently believe will receive an endowment from 
these lands of twenty-five million dollars, insuring a perpetual 
income of one million dollars a year. This will indeed be a 
princely income, and it gives positive assurance that higher 
and professional branches of education will be forever among 
the opportunities open to ambitious young men and women. 
The five normal schools are models of their kind. There are 
at this time 207 high schools, each receiving $1,750 of direct 
aid for maintenance from the Legislature, which is additional 
to the school fund distribution; 173 graded schools receive 
$600 each; 400 semi-graded schools receive $300 each; 1,860 
rural schools of the first class receive $150 each, and 1,127 
rural schools of the second class receive $100 each. The Legis- 
lature has set aside about $850,000 a year from the General 
Revenue Fund, to aid the schools named. The total number of 
pupils attending public schools in 1910 was 440,083 ; the gross 
sum expended in the year for teachers' wages and all other 
expenses was $13,724,437.48; the teachers number 15,157; 
there are 8,609 schoolhouses, of the value of $28,506,866 ; libra- 
ries costing $735,702 are found in 6,566 of the schoolhouses. 

As we review the educational developments of the past few 
years and contemplate the unbounded possibilities of the years 
to come, our thoughts are filled with deepest gratitude to Alex- 
ander Ramsey and his compatriots of pioneer days. The foot- 
steps of the infant commonwealth were guided rightly; the 
young twig was bent in the true direction. Honesty, fidelity 
and devotion to the common welfare, were among the materials 
used in building the foundation of the Permanent School Fund. 

The influence of such work upon succeeding legislation is 
very apparent. The great heritage received from a generous 
parent government has been sacredly preserved and conse- 
crated to the noblest aspirations of a free people, education 
and charity. We of a younger generation are enjoying mani- 
fold blessings and opportunities. Free popular education is 
the unerring equalizer of human conditions, and this has been 
guaranteed . to all coming generations. The wealth of these 
great funds must be guarded by legislators and state officials, 



■PUBLIC LANDS AND SCHOOL FUND OF MINNESOTA. 29 

with never-ending vigilance. The old landmarks were firm, 
safe, and sensible, and they should be stoutly supported. In 
due time a magnificent, perpetual institution for good, the 
great school fund will be completed. It will brighten the lives 
of all our future citizens, and will stand as an enduring monu- 
ment to the public and private virtues of the founders of the 
Commonwealth of Minnesota. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



# 



020 975 595 6 










i: 









Hollinger Corp. 
P H8.5 



(Bill 



Hollinger Corp. 
P H8.5 



